Slow motion glass shatter sound

Gohanto

Gohanto

Veteran
For an upcoming shoot I need to figure out how to create a sound effect for a large pane of glass shatter. I've tried slowing down recordings however they've always ended up sounded extremely processed.

Any suggestions?
 
Your slowing down the recordings, why? If it's to try and make a small glass break into a big one that isn't going to work. It's hard to recommend much with out seeing the seq. but layers are you friend. What is making up the shot? What hits the glass? Put cracks or breaks wherever you see them that's probably a good start. Also there is going to be some big impact. And of course lots of shards. Layer up 10-20 tracks of the elements and I bet you will be in the right neighborhood.
 
Noiz2 said:
Your slowing down the recordings, why? If it's to try and make a small glass break into a big one that isn't going to work. It's hard to recommend much with out seeing the seq. but layers are you friend. What is making up the shot? What hits the glass? Put cracks or breaks wherever you see them that's probably a good start. Also there is going to be some big impact. And of course lots of shards. Layer up 10-20 tracks of the elements and I bet you will be in the right neighborhood.
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This is pretty much it, or you could hire a sound editor.
 
Humanwire said:
This is pretty much it, or you could hire a sound editor.
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Oh, get serious ;~) I read the ad's all I need is the XYZ software package and I can do a Hollywood film with out even opening the manual. It must be true, I read it in the ad.
 
Slowing it down because the glass shatter is in slow motion (just noticed I wrote that in the title but not the post). I'll try layering stuff and see what happens.

I'd be inclined to hire someone except 1. I'm broke like most college kids, and 2. I'm studying sound as a major possibly going into movie sound as a career so I prefer to try and do all my own sound editing for practice (on-set I always have someone else manage it though)
 
Noiz2 said:
Oh, get serious ;~) I read the ad's all I need is the XYZ software package and I can do a Hollywood film with out even opening the manual. It must be true, I read it in the ad.
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LOL. If it were true, I'd be out of business!

Gohanto, layers are really the key. For example, in Forrest Gump, a lot of the rainfall in Veitnam was made up of several layers of rain and water of various textures and timbres. That's the key for making your glass sound right. Get on a foley stage (or a quiet room) and experiment to add texture to the glass shatter. Keep in mind that a sound event like the glass shatter is made of up of many smaller events, the attack, sustain, decay/release. You've maybe got a subtle sound just before the glass shatters, then you have the impact attack of the glass, then the sustain where all of the glass is falling to the ground, and the decay, how long it takes for the sound of all the glass to stop.
 
Gohanto said:
Slowing it down because the glass shatter is in slow motion (just noticed I wrote that in the title but not the post). I'll try layering stuff and see what happens.

I'd be inclined to hire someone except 1. I'm broke like most college kids, and 2. I'm studying sound as a major possibly going into movie sound as a career so I prefer to try and do all my own sound editing for practice (on-set I always have someone else manage it though)
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OK I'm going to give you the key....

Sit down and think up what kind of sounds YOU want to hear for the visual. Forget entirely what is actually going on, just concentrate on what YOU want to hear. Now go find things that make the sounds, or parts of the sounds you thought up.

For instance if it's really slow and we see a crack zipping along maybe you think it sounds like duct tape getting pulled or??? stick that in and see if it flies.
The point is forget real, glass doesn't break in slomo in real life. It's totally subjective. Now you as designer have to get in tune with the directors subjective concept of slomo breaking glass so it's not just you and that makes it complicated, but that's your job. Expand the directors vision and then try to create it. But always start with what you as an audience/ designer want and work from there.
Simple. That's why you get the big bucks ;~)
 
Sound design is all about thinking outside the box. If you have the original Star Wars trilogy on DVD the Special Features disc has a great featurette from Ben Burtt about how he did the foley sounds for the films.
 
A quick tip for getting a nice, controllable glass cracking sound: take a sheet of glass and wrap it tightly in several layers of duct tape. Make sure there are no exposed sections and that the tape layer is thick enough to prevent any shards of glass poking through. Once the sheet is all taped up, carefully break the glass inside (again, make sure that it doesn't break through the tape). Gently flexing this sheet of cracked glass will give you a nice glass cracking/grinding sound, making it a handy prop to have around.

As always: goggles and gloves. A splinter to the eye can really ruin your day.
 
Matthew R. Rodwell said:
Sound design is all about thinking outside the box. If you have the original Star Wars trilogy on DVD the Special Features disc has a great featurette from Ben Burtt about how he did the foley sounds for the films.
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Sound design and FX not Foley. The Foley artists at the Ranch would get pissed if you start crediting Ben with their work.
 
Another good prop for that kind of thing is a sheet of Plexiglas. It make a lot of stress sounds if you twist it.
 
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